One of the many benefits of therapeutic yoga is the passive connective tissue stretching in gentle supported yoga asana. I will use this principle foundation to benefit my client who has a current diagnosis of fibromyalgia, has frequent complaints of "tightness and overall discomfort" and reports of an increase in stress when "in a flair up".

Goal is to teach my client various therapeutic yoga poses, aiding in connective tissue stretches to ease her body & mind due to fibromyalgia. We will meet 2x per week (one time in person, an additional time via zoom) to go over the sequence. Using the Verbal Numeric Scale (0-10, 0 being no muscle pain, 10 being the worst pain) pre/post session.

My client is a 65year old woman that has a regular Hatha yoga & meditation practice. She subjectively reports benefit from a consistent practice of yoga as that eases her fibromyalgia, which she was diagnosed with in her 40s. Client is eager to learn this "new" style of yoga as she has never practiced therapeutic yoga before.

After discussion with the client, it was decided to meet twice/week, once in studio and other via zoom. Each Therapeutic yoga session would include 3-4 restorative yoga poses to be held for 5-7 minutes (each), as well as mild/gentle yoga transitioning between therapeutic poses. There would also be guided mediation throughout the session. This particular practice of yoga was ultimately decided upon as an approach to decrease stress, soreness and anxiety associated with the clients diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. The client was advised to keep a handwritten log of a pain scale, (0 = no pain, 10 = max pain) pre/post session and free write/journal about the experience (ie: te repons

I used both Hatha, Raja & Jnana Yoga branches. Hatha yoga correlates to the physical restorative poses that were chosen to decrease muscular tension and increase connective tissue extensibility to aid in relieving fibromyalgia. Raja yoga is highlighted with the use of the meidation the client is safely guided into and finally Jnana yoga with the use of journaling about the experience - observing how not only the physical bodt, but energetic, emotional and intellectual bodies responded to the therapeutic session.

My client has a regular Hatha yoga and meditation practice for many years, as she does feel the benefits of daily active movement in a traditional group class setting. She is very open to trying a "different style of yoga" with the restorative/therapeutic approach. She has a high level of body awareness and does know that daily stretching helps alleviate the fibromyalgia symtoms. Although she has never taken part in a restorative/therapeutic class she is open to trying it.

I suggested that I would take a picture of her in one of the poses to clearly show the props used so that on days we did not meet, she would be able to set herself up with ease (which she did in fact do with Mountain Brook pose).
I also suggested to expand on the journaling after meditation to see if there was any insight deeply stored in the mind that can come through, and how therapeutic that would be as well.

Yes. I enjoy working with this client, as she is a regular practitioner I see in many group classes. I have appreciated her knowledge on dealing with a chronic illness and how it relates to her body. She is very upfront as well as open to exploring "new" approaches of yoga, I valued her input immensely.
She did like the restorative class very much, and would like to continue this practice once per week as she felt "extremely relaxed" from the session. She does feel that the active movement you would find in a typical Open Level class would aid managing her fibromyalgia better.

I honestly learned so much from Cheri Clampett and Arturo Peal who instructed bother Therapeutic Yoga I & II. I did review their instruction and material prior to meeting with my client and I do feel I relayed their teachings well. In some poses I did need to offer some alternatives as to limb placement (supported twists) as well as upper extremity support with blankets in some poses (rather than the weight of the arms on the ground).

I feel the instruction, lecture and demos given from the Therapeutics I & II trainings were a spring board to help readily teach this material. I was confident going in, and am quite happy I do have the prerecorded lectures to watch and review for additional poses and set ups.
I would teach therapeutic yoga to everyone! It is amazing way to relax the body and mind and is so beneficial to all populations who practice yoga.

I will be forever grateful I took this course and now have this knowledge to share.